Olivia Pope returned to DC after months away to give Harrison a funeral in Scandal’s fourth season premiere “Randy, Red, Superfreak and Julia.”

Liv And Jake Return To D.C.

After escaping for her day in the sun with Jake (Scott Foley), Liv (Kerry Washington) is no longer Olivia Pope, but Julia Baker. Julia lives on a private island with her hot, ex-B613 agent lover and gets food and red wine delivered via boat. This week’s delivery features a rare bottle of wine and a letter for Julia. Nobody knows she’s there other than her father and a letter is not his style, but, after some deliberation, she opens the letter and finds a newspaper clipping: they found Harrison’s (Columbus Short) body buried in the desert.

Olivia and Jake return to DC, only to find nothing is as they left it. Olivia Pope & Associates is no more, and Abby (Darby Stanchfield), Quinn (Katie Lowes) and Huck (Guillermo Diaz) are all scattered around the city. Abby is now White House Press Secretary working for Fitz (Tony Goldwyn), and Huck is now Randy, the smart guy who works at an electronics store, fixing tech. Quinn is the only one left with any allegiance to Pope & Associates. She tracked Liv down to let her know about Harrison, and she graciously takes her former boss around town to visit the friends she left behind.

Huck refuses to speak to her unless she’s back for good, and Quinn tells Liv that he won’t talk to her either, but she checks up on him weekly. Abby is also not excited to see Liv, and accuses her of abandoning them. When Abby returns to her job at the White House, Cyrus (Jeff Perry) confronts her about seeing Olivia – while admitting to her that he has her followed. Knowing what kind of damage this could do to Fitz’s emotional state, Cy goes straight to the President to let him know.

Fitz And Mellie Grieve

The White House is a bit of a crazy place following the death of Fitz and Mellie’s son. Fitz is alienating the Republican base, firing untrusted advisors and pushing a bipartisan agenda, which most prominently includes an Equal Pay act. Lizzie (Portia de Rossi), the head of the RNC, pays Cyrus an irate visit, telling him that Fitz is quickly losing the support of the party.

Meanwhile, Mellie (Bellamy Young) is walking around the White House drunk and in pajamas. But, at least she’s washing her hair. When Fitz tells Mellie that Liv has returned, she informs him that, since the death of her child, she will not be turning a blind eye to his affair and expects him to be honest with her and tell her when he sees Olivia. She also assures him that, despite her drinking, she has no intention of attempting suicide like he did.

David Rosen Abandons B613 Crusade

While Liv works on putting together a funeral for Harrison, Jake pays David Rosen (Joshua Malina) a visit. He wants to know why David hasn’t used the files Jake gave him to nail Cyrus and expose B613. David says he spent two months poring over the documents, color-coding them from scary to so horrifying he might die. Jake tells him he needs to make a decision: use them or give them back. David’s decision is somewhat complicated by a surprise visit from Cyrus, who asks him to serve as the new Attorney General (Fitz fired his last one). David – a democrat – is stunned and immediately runs to Abby. Abby swears that she didn’t know about the offer, nor did she tell Cyrus about his B613 files – the obsession that killed their relationship. In other words, the job is not a bribe, and David accepts.

To Jake’s chagrin, Liv gets sucked into a case when a Senator is critically injured after sexually assaulting a staffer. Liv is moved by the story, and decides to take the case on herself, turning it into a champion cause for women’s rights and giving Fitz’s Equal Pay Act a nice bump in the media.

Rowan And B613

Huck, Quinn and Abby all gather for Harrison’s funeral to say goodbye. Liv, emotional, hugs Jake, crying, and fails to notice Rowan watching from a parked car – but Jake does. Earlier in the episode, Liv asked her father point blank if he had anything to do with Harrison’s death, and Rowan (Joe Morton) told her he did not. He lied, but her lie detector powers don’t work when it comes to her parents, so she’s not convinced. She does, however, believe him when he tells her that her mother had Fitz’s son killed and he killed her at the order of the President.

Scandal airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. on ABC.

Article by Olivia Truffaut-Wong

Olivia Truffaut-Wong was born and raised in Berkeley, California, where she developed her love of all things entertainment. After moving to New York City to earn her degree in Film Studies, she stayed on the East Coast to follow her passion and become an entertainment writer. She lives on a diet of television, movies and food.